CHAPTER 12

"Really, Severus, what's with you today? You haven't heard a word I've said all morning!"

Severus glanced up from his cauldron at a disgruntled Gwyneth and raised an eyebrow. "I assure you, I've heard everything you've told me about the Dark Lord. Suffice it to say, that I know more of his plans than you do. If he wanted you to know about them, then he would have told you himself."

"But I can help. I can help him, and you. You know that's all I want to do. Plus, it means I get to show off," she said with an airy smile, as she created a searingly hot ball of blue fire over her hand with her wand. "Nobody has power like I do."

"Don't be so sure of that," Severus muttered.

Gwyneth whirled around to face him, the fire suddenly extinguished. "What? Can you honestly tell me that you know a witch with stronger powers than mine? A full-blooded witch, Severus? Not that black-haired hussy who comes and goes like she owns the Malfoy's place."

Severus glanced up, finally giving Gwyneth his attention. "What black-haired hussy?"

Gwyneth gave him a smug smile as she walked over to stand between him and the cauldron. "Oh. So now I have your attention. Was it the word 'hussy' that finally got it? Because you know, I've been waiting for a chance to talk to you on a similar subject." She reached out and brushed the hair away from his temples, pressing close to him.

Severus jerked his head away from her slender fingers irritably. "What black-haired hussy who comes and goes? Answer me."

Gwyneth lowered her eyelashes and walked slowly away from him, glancing over her shoulder at him coquettishly."Well I suppose you haven't met her, she's rarely ever there, and neither are you. Apparently she's off doing the Dark Lord's work or whatever. If I find out she's betrayed him though - "

"Enough Gwyneth. What is her name?"

Gwyneth looked at Severus with her wide green eyes. "Jahren, I think."

Severus continued to look at Gwyneth, but with eyes unseeing. He absently traced a finger around the line of his lips. "Are you sure?" he finally asked softly.

Gwyneth tossed her head and continued walking vaguely around the room. "To be honest, Severus, I don't really care, so I'm not really sure. The Dark Lord is interested in Harry Potter, and so therefore, I am as well." She paused and looked at him with a chiding smile. "You still haven't provided enough information on the boy, and the Dark Lord is growing quite vexed with you."

Severus sighed. "As I've said before, I don't need to explain myself to you. I answer to him, and him alone." The anger and disgust Severus felt by doing this job, and kept tightly controlled, threatened to break free. "You are becoming worse than a leech, following me everywhere, demanding I explain myself to you! I will do my job, and you had better stay out of my way."

Gwyneth walked quickly over to Severus, a look of concern on her beautiful, cold face. "Shh, it's alright darling. You know I only have your best interests at heart." She stroked his hair once again, and once again, Severus moved his head aside.

At his obvious rebuff her brows snapped together. "Enough of this. You have a meeting to go to. You can explain your actions to the Dark Lord in person. I however am having lunch with our illustrious headmaster. Hopefully I can do as good a job as you at charming him."


Severus returned some hours later from his meeting with the Dark Lord. He was rarely ever punished by Lord Voldemort, but when he was, those times made up for it. He wiped a brow slick with sweat with a shaking hand. This had been one of those times. The Dark Lord was more than simply 'vexed' with him for his recent failures to provide accurate information concerning Harry Potter, Dumbledore or the Order. One thing Severus knew, however, was that Umbridge was not working for Lord Voldemort. She, it seemed, was rotten inside all of her own accord.

Severus began to stumble up the stairs that ultimately led to his room. Walking straight past them, he headed in the direction of the Hospital Wing. He probably only had a short time to get there before he passed out. It wasn't very late, and the students were mostly in their dorms, but Severus didn't want to risk one of them seeing him. Having their vacant eyes staring at him was infuriating.

Unfortunately, coming up the corridor was the last person he wanted to see. Make that the second last person. Minerva McGonagall turned the corner and was walking towards him. She suddenly turned and called out behind her. "Really, Aeryn, you're a woman – multitask. Can't you walk, talk and read at the same time? You're lagging."

Severus's stomach dropped. The very last person he wanted to see right now came hurrying around the corner to catch up to the older woman, an open book in her hand. He couldn't hope that she wouldn't see him as she walked past.

"Good grief!" Right on cue, thought Severus, as Minerva shrieked upon seeing his rumpled, sweaty, unsteady state. Aeryn glanced up one second later, and Severus saw the look of horror on her face. Unfortunately, this was the moment his knees gave out. Damn, he thought. Get up! Do not show weakness!

Both women rushed to his side, the younger woman getting there first, the book having been dropped back in the hallway. Aeryn fell to her knees in front of him, supporting him with her body. She grasped his face in both hands and stared into his eyes. What he saw there made him almost glad to be hurting. She was truly concerned for him, her black eyes wide with fear.

Minerva came up quickly behind them. "Severus! My dear boy, are you all right? No, of course you aren't. Aeryn, stay with him. I will return with Poppy in a moment. Perhaps just take him to your rooms dear, they're closer than his. We will meet you there." And she was gone in a rush of tartan.

"I do not need two women fussing over me right now." He paused as a wave of pain engulfed him. "I assure you I will be perfectly all right in a while."

"God! What happened to you?" Aeryn cried as she pulled him to his feet. He grunted with the effort and nearly fell again, but Aeryn braced him once again with her body. She stumbled a little under his weight.

"Get off, I'm fine," he said irritably.

"Yes, of course you are. Now come with me," she said a trifle breathlessly as she practically dragged him to her door, one of his arms across her slender shoulders.

"It seems," she said, panting, "that we've been here before."

Severus's vision was beginning to blur, but he struggled to listen to her words. "What do you mean?" he mumbled.

"That time...in Hagrid's Hut, last year...ugh you're heavy...when the whatever-it-was - "

"Gerg," he muttered shortly, remembering.

"Yes, when the Gerg attacked you. I had to drag you into his house to fix you up, and you were all macho then, too." Aeryn had pushed open the door to her room, and dragged him towards the bed. Seeing where they were headed Severus tried to stop. "You can't put me there, I've got blood all over me."

Aeryn's eyes flew to his face. "Blood?" she cried. "God Sev, what did that bastard do to you?" She looked almost for a moment like she was going to cry.

"I'm fine," he said automatically.

With one last heave she got him on her bed. He didn't have the strength to resist.

Roughly pulling off his boots, Aeryn checked his legs briefly for signs of injury, then checked his arms. Deciding that his clothes were in the way she opened his robes, and gasped at the amount of blood on his white shirt. Severus lay prone on the bed, not moving, and barely conscious. He didn't struggle when she tried to remove his shirt. He was too heavy though, and she had to give up, leaving it open and his bloodied torso very visible.

"Bellatrix likes to play," he said in his low voice, watching her face with heavy-lidded eyes.

Aeryn's brows lowered. "And you-" she stopped.

Severus blinked to clear the haze. "And I what? Let her? There are more of them then there are of me, and I was the Dark Lord's target tonight because I displeased him. He would never kill me though, unless I betrayed them. I'm too valuable."

Aeryn leaned over him and brushed his sweaty hair from his face. "I'm so sorry, Severus. I didn't mean it like that," she said softly.

Severus blacked out.

When he didn't respond to her gentle nudging to keep him conscious, Aeryn began to cry, more afraid for him than she had been for anyone in a long time. She sat there and held his limp, cold hand for an eternity. Where was Poppy? This man that she loved was dying before her eyes and there was nothing she could do about it.

The thought had entered her mind unbidden and stopped her cold. Loved? Surely not. An insane attraction, infatuation, maybe, but not love.

Aeryn began to cry harder when she realised the truth, and laid her head on his bloodied chest, comforted in hearing that his heart was still beating. "Oh Severus, please don't die on me," she sobbed.

Poppy, Minerva, and Albus burst into the room at that moment. Aeryn sat up quickly, wiping tears and the blood from her cheeks, and ran to them. "Poppy please hurry! I don't know how bad he is but - "

"Out of my way dear, I will tend him."

A trolley had followed Poppy Pomfrey into the room, full of vials of liquid and casks of powder. Poppy began busily mixing up a potion from the ingredients that were kept well stocked by the man lying before her. "Thank God for that," she muttered, and spooned a small amount of a black tarry liquid into Snape's mouth.

He gave a great lurch from the bed and began thrashing around, still apparently unconscious. Poppy passed her wand over his body once, twice, and on the third time he became still.

Aeryn gasped and moved quickly to the side of the bed. "He's not - " she began in a sick voice.

"No. He will need to rest for a few days, but he will recover. Aeryn," she said, turning to the younger woman with a stern expression on her face, "he must not move from this spot for at least twelve hours. Would you be able to enforce that or would you rather bunk with Minerva until then?"

Aeryn was still staring at the drawn face of the potions master. "No," she replied in a barely audible voice. "I'll sleep on the couch. I will watch him."

Poppy looked seriously at her. "Very well. If you need anything, or he needs more pain relief, send a Patronus my way and I'll tend to him."

Aeryn looked up at Poppy. "I can't conjure a Patronus," she said in a slightly embarrassed voice. "I...it was something I never got a handle on in school."

Albus interrupted. "And perfectly understandable my dear. It is a very complicated piece of magic. Aeryn, if you need any help, I want you to call Fawkes to you, and he will get the message to Poppy. Is that understood?"

"Yes, Headmaster."

Minerva came and gave Aeryn a brief, stiff hug. "If you need any help my dear, please ask me."

Aeryn looked thoughtfully at her friend. "Actually, Minerva, I need to talk to Albus really quickly. Can you..."

"Yes I will watch him for you until you return. And call you if there's any change," the older woman said kindly.

Albus looked over the top of his spectacles at each of the women in the room with him. "I trust that what happened here tonight will remain between the four of us?" he paused as they all nodded their assent. Albus smiled. "Excellent. I would not like this instance to be repeated to a certain Ministry worker at this school. Now, Aeryn, you had something you wished to speak to me about?"


Aeryn returned from her discussion with Albus about half an hour later. She felt a great weight lifted from her, but didn't feel she had explained herself well. Her thoughts had been dwelling continuously on Severus.

She found her room exactly as she had left it, with Minerva seated in a chair next to the bed; a cup of tea in her hands. She gave Aeryn a reassuring smile when she entered. "He seems to be resting easier now dear." She placed the empty cup on the bedside table and came over to Aeryn. "Are you sure you wouldn't prefer me to stay with you?"

Aeryn looked gratefully at Minerva and gave her hand a quick squeeze. "We'll be fine."

As the other woman left the room, Aeryn took the recently vacated seat next to the bed. It wasn't one that had been in the room before; obviously Minerva had conjured it on the spot. It was a chair so like the Transfiguration Professor – stiff and strong, simple but practical. Aeryn smiled slightly. Its hard contours would help her to stay awake. There was no way she was going to drift off and risk having her dreams invaded by Lord Voldemort. She wouldn't dare wake Severus with her cries, not when he needed to rest.

In the uneventful hours that passed, Aeryn Allen tried to recall exactly when she had fallen in love with Severus Snape. It was so unlike her. She liked men, true, but didn't go out of her way to form relationships. She had men that were friends, but turned away when they showed any interest. They all seemed too...pale in comparison to Severus. He was so strong and sure of himself. He put such passion into his potion making...what she wouldn't give for him to show her the same passion. She'd seen it, once, that day so many months ago when he'd kissed her in her office, but nothing since then. He had made his feelings abundantly clear; she was a woman of tainted blood and therefore inferior.

Aeryn snorted quietly. Apparently his superior didn't think so. Aeryn still wasn't sure what Lord Voldemort wanted, but she had an idea that it was more than simply joining his side. How was it that she could get the attention of one of the most dangerous men in the world, but could barely get this man lying on her bed to notice her?

And now, here she was in the worst predicament: completely and irrevocably in love with him. And it hadn't happened suddenly, she knew that now. Even when he was her professor she was sure there was something there, otherwise why had she been so upset when he had ridiculed her in class?

She stood up and began to walk absently in circles around her room. How can someone not know they were in love the entire time?

A slight noise from her bed made her rush back to Severus's side, but he didn't move. He did look better – there was colour in his cheeks again, and his face looked less drawn. She began to pace around the room again. She realised she could see better – the sun was just starting to peep through the curtains. Poppy would be coming for Severus soon, and he still hadn't woken up. Aeryn wasn't sure if she was glad about that or not.

As if that thought had prompted it, a rough voice from her bed gained her full attention. "How long have I been asleep?"

Aeryn drew a quick breath and was quickly by Severus's side. "Hello," she said with a smile. "You've been here for nearly twelve hours. Poppy said not to move you, but she will be here to take you to the hospital wing shortly, I think."

Severus leaned up onto his elbows and looked around, slightly confused. "Twelve hours?" He looked back at the woman sitting next to him. "I'm sorry I inconvenienced you. I feel fine, I should be on my way now," and he swung his legs over the edge of the bed.

Aeryn placed her hands firmly on his broad shoulders. "Oh no. If you move, Poppy with have my hide. Stay put," she commanded.

Poppy chose that moment to check on her patient. She stopped as she entered the room and, seeing Aeryn practically restraining Severus, gave a long sigh. "You're going to be difficult about this, aren't you?" she asked with a long suffering look.

Severus looked sulkily at both women. "I feel fine. There is no need to make such a fuss."

Poppy came over and placed both hands lightly on his temples. She stared into his mutinous eyes for a few moments, then released him. "Hospital wing. But I will keep this visit brief," she added, when he looked like he was about to protest. "You have recovered remarkably well." Then she thrust a finger into his face. "But you will come with me for a full examination Severus, before I let you return to work, or I shall drag you. And light duties only. I will brook no opposition on this."

Severus's eyes narrowed. "Fine. But this is absolutely unnecessary." He sat and laboriously pulled on his boots. Sitting up again, he asked "Where is my wand?"

Aeryn grabbed it off her bedside table where it was sitting next to her own. Handing it to him, she looked earnestly into his face. "Please take it easy Severus."

They both left the room, and Aeryn was left standing there. She knew she only had a short time to get what she wanted before Severus returned to his dungeon.


Yeh see the bit below that says 'review this chapter'? - come on, boost my ego a little? please? :-)